Don't know if any of you have fitness mad friends. I'm currently going for gold in the couch Olympics and all my friends are checking in at the local gym, going for personal training sessions or mapping their running progress!
Meanwhile I'm hoping for a symptom free check in to my shower soon. Ha, ha, I I have good friends but the fitness mad thing makes me laugh.
#asthmaproblems
awww i know how you feel, i'm normally fitness mad too but my activities have been curtailed as well
My problem isn't totally asthma related but no-one knows exactly what it is yet. I've got no voice and i sound like there's a barking seal in my lungs / throat. I've got an urgent referral to ENT but until then i'm signed off work and sofa-surfing too
In fact i posted on facebook that i've been off work ill watching daytime tv for too long cos every time i looked for something to watch i'd already seen it!!
I'm on 2 different running discussion forums on facebook and all my friends are posting about their runs / PBs too and i've not run at all since 14th January - getting thoroughly fed up now!
Hi
I normally do quite a bit of swimming; the jacuzzi is a bit hit and miss as to whether it'll upset the chest. Like you I'd settle for having a shower without premedicating with Salbutamol!
Hi,
I'm just getting back into a fitness routine after a bad year of health last year (not asthma related, thank goodness, but still unpleasant). I have to be very careful with aerobic exercise as running really is something that can trigger my (normally very well controlled) asthma. I do an hour of walking at a reasonable pace (I walk at about 3.3mph) three days a week, and I also do anaerobic exercise in the form of a fairly basic ballet class and also a Pilates class once a week. Sadly I have to be careful with swimming - I'm allergic to chlorine; unless I wear a nose plug and goggles I end up with streaming rhinitis and have had asthma problems in the pool in the past.
Hi,
I'm just getting back into a fitness routine after a bad year of health last year (not asthma related, thank goodness, but still unpleasant). I have to be very careful with aerobic exercise as running really is something that can trigger my (normally very well controlled) asthma. I do an hour of walking at a reasonable pace (I walk at about 3.3mph) three days a week, and I also do anaerobic exercise in the form of a fairly basic ballet class and also a Pilates class once a week. Sadly I have to be careful with swimming - I'm allergic to chlorine; unless I wear a nose plug and goggles I end up with streaming rhinitis and have had asthma problems in the pool in the past.
I should add, however, that as it is now the weekend I'm having a break. As I write this, however, my husband is out running a marathon (something I could never do) raising funds at the same time - for Asthma UK.
Well done to your husband Maggie. I did the GNR for asthma uk a few years a go. I got some good cheers (and a few days staining of green facepaint.....)
I'm at the frustrating point of trying to get fit again, but battling with my asthma. I think I need to rethink the type of exercise I do.
What do other people do? I've signed up for yoga next week, but I think my love of running needs to go on hold for a while
It all comes down to what your body, and particularly lungs, can tolerate - particularly when you start out. I'm not the only asthmatic in my family, my younger (but now grown up) son is as well. Like me, he started having asthma symptoms when he was three years old; unlike me he has always been able to do aerobic exercise to some extent, and it has got better over the years so that he can now do a four mile run and also made it to the first hockey squad when he was at school. Anaerobic exercise suits me because through it I can get a good body workout but in a stop start fashion which doesn't put too much strain on my lungs. Past experience has taught me that being physically fit really helps when it comes to fighting off infections. Getting back into it after a bad year last year meant starting off slowly (walking to the post box and back, about half a mile in distance) starting off at a leisurely pace and then gradually picking up the pace (and then the distance) as I got fitter. Ballet was something that I did quite a lot of when I was younger and so was well aware of the benefits: adult ballet classes are now quite easy to find.
Thanks, that's good advice.
I had asthma since I was a child too, but it disappeared for 10 years in my 20s and reappeared last year. I was quite fit and very outdoorsy and I pushed myself a lot
I think I need to understand my limits a bit more and listen to me lungs, not my legs!
The main thing I've learnt about asthma triggered by exercise (unfortunately after about two decades of suffering) is that if considering aerobic exercise, you need to warm up very slowly and for much longer than a non-asthma sufferer.
Before even thinking about running I have to warm up with a walk for 15 minutes minimum - and even then it's not a guarantee I won't have an asthma attack once I run! It seems to be linked to the volume of air you need to move through your lungs during intense aerobic exercise and the speed with which you need to do it - my lungs just don't have the peak flow for it.
With stop and start aerobic exercise (sports, dancing, classes, etc.) I find I have a slightly better chance of not having an attack - it seems the periods of downtime give my lungs a chance to rest. But it can be hard to find a suitable environment - it's hard to explain to an aerobics instructor that you can't just launch into a non-stop session after a 2 minute 'warm up' consisting of a few stretches!
I find swimming the best aerobic exercise hands down - I still need to warm up and take it slowly at first, but the humidity of the environment really seems to help. Similarly cold or dry air is a big trigger. When I'm struggling in normal aerobic exercise, I actually open a bottle of water and just breathe in the air inside it - the humidity helps relax my lungs.
Strength and flexibility exercise is generally fine, so I try to do a lot of yoga and weights (well within reason! I'm hardly Popeye).
Like you I do get envious of people on Facebook who casually post the 5k they ran after work - I'd love to run even half a km right now! But that being said I have heard that running isn't actually that great for your heart or joints, especially in large quantities, so maybe it's a blessing that I can't do it.
Good luck finding what works for you 
Thanks dan,
I think you're spot on about the warm ups, I've noticed such a difference when I warm up properly
I'm starting swimming and yoga this week and have a PT consultation on Thursday.
I think we should stat posting our asthma achievements on face book #asthmavictory
facebook!!
Fitness to fly letter for travel insurance?
